Team Devo athlete Zack Cooper touches base on his 2025 season
(Photo credit: Marcel Hilger)
With 2025 being my second year in TTL Devo colors, I was keen to build on a promising debut pro season. A coaching change too meant a new stimulus and an exciting lineup of racing on the cards. Realising my swim was a huge weak point, I started the year in Denmark for a full month of technique based work. Keeping up run and bike training was challenging in minus temperatures but I enjoyed discovering a new culture. The Danish coffee is pretty good too!
Into the season we came, and after a few 70.3 outings, I set my sights on Ironman Austria. 6th place on the day was a huge step forward, marking my first top 10 result. The full distance racing continued and just over a month later, I found myself on the start line at Challenge Roth for the fourth year in a row. 11th place in a stellar field was a solid result and one that made me think... why not one last shot at qualification for Nice. Four weeks later and it was time for Ironman number three of the season in Copenhagen. Skeptical of whether another Ironman would be doable, the legs were surprisingly there once again, finishing 4th in a time of 7h33mins. A lucky roll-down spot meant that qualification for Ironman World Championships in Nice had been secured. Dream coming true, way earlier than expected in my pro career!
The buzz around World Champs is something truly incredible. Lining up with the best guys in the world was an experience I'll never forget. Unfortunately the Ironman season caught up with me, and it was a bad day to have a bad day. Grateful to have been able to represent TTL at the highest level in our sport and for sure the fire for Kona burns even stronger now. 2025 has been an incredible year, but it's not quite over yet with Ironman Arizona on the cards! Hopefully see plenty of TTL fam' out on course.